WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today announced $60 million in grants to fund cutting-edge transportation improvement technologies that will improve safety, efficiency, system performance, and infrastructure return on investment.

“This program will take technological innovation to a new level and help to make the entire transportation network more reliable for commuters, businesses, and freight shippers,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “An efficient transportation system is the foundation of a strong economy.”

The new program—Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment Program (ATCMTD)—is aimed at addressing the concerns outlined in

Beyond Traffic, the USDOT report issued last year that examines the challenges facing America's transportation infrastructure over the next three decades, such as a rapidly growing population and increasing traffic. Gridlock nationwide is expected to increase unless changes are made soon.

“Innovative technologies offer exciting solutions that can help meet the challenges outlined in Beyond Traffic and can improve safety and efficiency of transportation across the nation,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “This new program will help harness and support these technologies and push the boundaries of what is possible for the future of transportation in our country.”

ATCMTD technologies are intended to improve the return-on-investment of safety, efficiency, system performance and infrastructure improvements, including the enhanced use of existing transportation capacity. The awards may be used for projects that use real-time traveler information, traffic data collection and dissemination, vehicle-to-infrastructure and an array of other dynamic systems and intelligent transportation system technologies.

ATCMTD was established under the “Fixing America's Surface Transportation” Act. State departments of transportation, local governments, transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations and other eligible entities are all invited to apply under the program.